Colonel Pat Lang's Outpost - "A Committee of Correspondence"

24 March 2013

The Ungoverned Maghreb - Foresman

There was a very interesting recent discussion regarding
Northern Africa and the battle against Islamic Terrorists.

Early on in the Global War on Terrorism I was chosen to lead
a Multi-national planning effort to develop a long-term campaign against
Islamic Terrorism in a Maghreb.
Based on assessments it was believed
that the greatest threats came in Southern Algeria from the GSPC. The planning team was comprised of military
planners from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Spain,
Italy, Germany, and Turkey. What was
evident early on was that United States knowledge of the region was woefully
lacking. In particular the French,
Spanish, and Italian officers providing great insights into what was really
happening in this region.

The first and most important conclusion was like much of the
world the national boundaries draw by the West meant little or nothing to the
inhabitants of these regions. Second
large swaths can and should be considered ungoverned. Ungoverned areas mean just what you would
assume it means—an area where the government does not or is unable to exert
control. Third the nature the activities
in the ungoverned area included criminal activity, tribal and ethnic conflict
(particularly the conflict between Arab North African and Black Africans),
Islamic terrorism, and anti-governments rebels.

In the conduct of our planning it was quickly apparent that
United States intelligence was useless; not because it was accurate rather
because the United States placed so many restrictions on sharing of
intelligence initially we had to rely purely on “open-source” intelligence. Within a week or so three countries
represented on the planning team, Spain, France, and Italy provided releasable
intelligence to the planning team. Upon
reviewing both the United States and the intelligence provided by Spain,
France, and Italy it was evident that the United States was woefully ignorant
of what was happening in the Maghreb and in particular the ungoverned spaces.

In recent weeks there has been much comment about Mokhtar Belmokhtar. I have no doubt that he had become the leader
of AQ in the Maghreb. This would have
just another evolution in his persona.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar is nothing more than a thug—a common criminal who
worked for the highest bidder. At
different times he was involved in providing protection for the GSPC, moving
guns and other supplies to them and across traditional trade routes to other
rebel and terrorists groups in Africa and the Middle East. I have no idea whether he was a true
believer, he may have well have been, but there was no question in anyone mine
that the was a capable leader who inspired loyalty.

The end result of the planning effort was a Campaign Plan,
which provided a long-term strategy at combating terrorism in the ungoverned
spaces. Unfortunately it was never implemented
because US interests were diverted to Iraq.

The ungoverned areas of North Africa will remain the wild
wild West until such time the governments of North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa
decide that it is in their national security interest to exercise some degree
of authority over these regions. They
will never fully exercise authority over these regions because of the tribal,
ethnic, and religious conflicts. But
they can try. Foresman